


Me and Shiro and the Dying Boy

by chasehate



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bad Writing, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Cancer, Crossover, Cuban Lance (Voltron), Gay Keith (Voltron), High School, Langst, Leukemia, M/M, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, Not A Happy Ending, Slow Burn, but they actually never get together, lance dies
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-03
Updated: 2017-10-03
Packaged: 2019-01-08 13:12:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12255075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chasehate/pseuds/chasehate
Summary: Seventeen-year-old Keith has managed to become part of every social group at his Altea high school without having any friends, but his life changes when his mother forces him to befriend Rachel, a  boy he once knew in elementary school who has leukemia.





	Me and Shiro and the Dying Boy

**Author's Note:**

> First fic in three years so like yeah here ya go also im sorry

_It’s kind of hard to tell this story, especially so when you knew how it was going to end right from the minute the first word was written down. You were going to regret every single decision you made over the year, or maybe wish you’d done it all differently. Or not gotten your hopes up. Sadly, I can’t fix that- this. I just have to look back on it and… And try to keep going._

 

This story begins the start of senior year, the beginning of Keith’s life falling apart, his first ever friendship, and the time he killed someone with a seashell model of a 2017 Harley Davidson Road Glide. Well, that last part actually is near the end of the story, but it’s a good line to start with.

Keith liked to think about high school like this: Altea High is a universe unto itself and by senior year, he perfected the languages and customs of it’s various planets and species. The war cries of the jocks, the stoner lingo, the innocuous witticisms of every theater dork for miles, and the ability to solve a complex math equation in about 50 seconds if ever asked. Speaking of, he was currently passing the mathematical geniuses down the south hall.

“Hey Keith! How was your summer?” A student, who gave off pure warmth, asked as Keith walked by, the dark skinned male tying up his hair with a bright yellow headband. It was probably to keep it out of his face while he solved the equation written on the window in front of him, presumably by the smaller girl who looked like she should be in eighth grade… Height and face-shape wise. She could pull off the high school senior look well with her unkempt brown hair and dark circles, cleverly hidden by the large glasses on her face, not to mention the look she gave anybody who tested her in the mornings.

Stopping for a moment, he examined the marked-up window, not really caring to process anything on it. He would if he was asked, but right then, he had more pressing matters. “Summer… what does that word even mean? Like, more summ?” He replied for possibly the tenth time that day. He didn’t know Hunk and Pidge that well to come up with anything better than what he used for everybody else he passed by. So, he continued down the hall without another word, but he did hear the other male’s laughter from behind him.

See, in a typical teenage life, you belong to one group, one clique… And that can never guarantee total security from anyone else. But Keith, oh, he had a way out of that. A loophole. Get passports to everywhere, be on lowkey good terms with everybody, only interact with them once in awhile, just casual conversation when no one else is around to care. Never commit to something that won’t be under the radar. 

It’s like, for example, Rolo here, this gothy jock who hangs out in the second to last room in the south hall during his lunch. He’s playing some card game, probably an RPG sort of thing, Keith assumed, as he glanced over his shoulder; he read ‘Bounty Hunter’ in bold letters across the top. “Hey, Rolo, nice Hunter.” 

“Thanks?” It was snarky, but that’s just how Rolo was. 

Of course, there was some places Keith just couldn’t go. The cafeteria, for example, every inch was another planet’s atmosphere, being in it was poison without generations worth of immunity. So, he avoided it. Instead, he ate lunch in the office of his chemistry teacher, Mr. Coran. While he was a bit on the… Crazier side, he was the only tolerable adult in Altea High. Which meant he was quite relieved upon entering the room, being greeted by both the teacher and another student, Takashi Shirogane.

See, Takashi (Shiro) and him went way back, probably the beginning of elementary, if he had to guess. He was the only person who stuck by him all his life, the only one who was up to meeting every new foster family he had and the only one who Keith didn’t use his ‘loophole’ on. Keith was also there for Shiro, through his accident (resulting in the loss of his arm) and through countless bullies who all caused many scars, which, may Keith add, pissed their pants on the first day of sophomore year upon seeing their former victim suddenly 6’2 and a total beefcake. 

To make it clear, though, right from the beginning, they weren’t friends. Keith didn’t want to be anyone’s friend. Rather, Shiro was his coworker and the Japanese man didn’t really mind.

“Ah, Shiro. Keith’s finally here, means I can leave you and you won’t be alone, Lad!” Coran said, stepping out from behind his desk and heading out the door. “I will be in room 47 for the next…” He looked up at the analog clock, fiddling with his mustache, “30 minutes. Paladins!”

“Seek the research,” Would always be their answers, having been trained since the first day of Coran’s class two years ago. It was practically automatic now, It was nice having something like that, so Shiro kept claiming. To Keith, it was kind of stupid and it’d just make sense for them to all say the entire phrase or not say anything at all. That’s a different matter, though.

In front of Shiro, a computer monitor was playing some movie spoken in a language Keith did not understand, and from what he knew about Shiro, the larger man didn’t understand either. “What are you watching?” He asked.

“It was on when I got here. I was told it’s in French, but this sounds more like German.” Was the response, and after, the both sat in silence.

That was, until a girl came by and tapped on Keith’s shoulder. Said girl was incredibly attractive, too, even to a gay guy like Keith. He liked dick, that didn’t make him blind. 

“Hey Allura.”

“Hey, how was your summer?” Now, let’s also set this straight. Hot people ruin your life, even if the hot person is an amazing person. She is a lion and you are a small, harmless mouse. They’re obliviously walking around wherever lions live and then SMASH! The mouse is crushed, the lion didn’t even do it in malice, you see, it just happened. This is exactly what hot people do.

“Summer? What does that even mean? More summ? Winter, same deal, more wint?”

As if to finally put poor Allura out of her misery, Shiro chimes in. “Coran is in 47.”

“Thanks…” And she’s gone. Mouse unscathed. For now.


End file.
